Mary Duke Biddle Estate, also known as the James O. Cobb House, is a historic home and estate located at

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

Durham County, North Carolina Durham County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 324,833, making it the sixth-most populous county in North Carolina. Its county seat is Durham, which is the only incorporated mu ...

. The main house "Pinecrest" is a

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

style dwelling built in 1927, with additions and interior renovations made between 1935 and 1958. These additions and renovations included

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

, French Eclectic, Oriental,

Art Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...

, and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

elements. The estate property includes an additional three contributing outbuildings and nine contributing structures. They are The Cottage, a gasoline pump, iron picket fence with two ornamental gates, two large brick arches, stone-lined grottoes, bathhouse, tennis court, a swimming pool, a stone fireplace,

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...

, a gardener's cottage with an attached greenhouse, and a storage garage. The estate was the home of philanthropist

Mary Duke Biddle Mary Lillian Duke Biddle (November 16, 1887 – June 14, 1960) was an American philanthropist. Early life She was born as Mary Lillian Duke on November 16, 1887, to Benjamin Newton Duke in Durham, North Carolina. She attended Durham's Trinit ...

from 1935 until her death in 1960. After Mary Duke Biddle's death, the house was owned by noted philanthropist

Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans (February 21, 1920 – January 25, 2012) was an American heiress, activist, politician, and philanthropist. She was the granddaughter of Benjamin N. Duke and the great-granddaughter of Washington Duke, both tob ...

and her husband, James H. Semans, who gave the house to their son, James D.B.T. Semans in 1976. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2013. Pinecrest and some of the contributing resources are included in the Forest Hills Historic District. In July 2023, the house located at 1415 Bivins St. was burned down as part of a training exercise by the Durham Fire Department, to make room for a proposed housing development.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Tudor Revival architecture in North Carolina Modern Movement architecture in the United States Duke family residences Biddle family residences Houses completed in 1927 Houses in Durham, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Durham County, North Carolina Historic district contributing properties in North Carolina {{DurhamCountyNC-NRHP-stub